1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a handle device for opening/closing and locking/unlocking a door of a casing of a switching board, a distribution board, a control panel, a cubicle, a cabinet, a rack, and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
A casing having a door and a casing frame is often provided with a handle device for opening/closing and locking/unlocking the door. The handle device is normally composed of a door unit including a handle fitted to the door, and a casing frame unit including a hook member fitted to the casing frame. A conventional handle device of this type requires rotational operation of the handle in a plane parallel to the door surface by a user for opening/closing the door.
However, with such a conventional handle device, a user may face a number of problems. For instance, projections on the surface of the door located near the rotational area of the handle tend to prevent easy opening and closing of the door. The user can hit the projection with his hand in rotating the handle and/or his fingers can be caught between the projection and the handle. Further, the conventional handle device has a structure such that when opening the door the user has to lift the handle up, turn it in a plane parallel to the door surface, and then pull it out to actually open the door. In short, opening the door requires three steps, and closing the door also requires three steps.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a handle device with which both opening and closing a door involve only a single step, with which the user can open and close a door safely and easily even when the door has a projection on its surface having the handle, and with which the locking operation can be easily performed.
According to the invention, there is provided a handle device to be installed on a casing having a door and a casing frame, said handle device comprising:
a door unit to be mounted on a door, and
a casing frame unit having a hook member to be mounted on a casing frame,
said door unit including a handle section and a sliding section,
said handle section including a handle capable of being lifted up or pressed down with respect to a door surface, and a lock capable of securing and locking said handle in its pressed-down position,
said sliding section including a sliding member linearly slidable in two opposite directions along the surface of the door,
wherein said sliding member is in engagement with said handle so that the sliding member slides in either of said two directions in response to said handle being lifted up or pressed down,
wherein said sliding member has a hook engaging slot, said hook engaging slot engaging with said hook member when said sliding member slides in one of said two directions corresponding to the handle being pressed down, and disengaging from said hook member when said sliding member slides in the other of said two directions corresponding to the handle being lifted up.
Thus, according to the invention, a single step of lifting up or pressing down the handle causes disengagement or engagement of the hook member on the casing frame with or from the hook engaging slot in the sliding member to allow opening and closing the door. In addition, with the hook member in engagement with the hook engaging slot, the door can easily and reliably be locked and unlocked by using a lock.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the sliding member has two opposite extensions along a length of the handle section, and is provided with not less than three of said hook engaging slots, each of said extensions having at least one of said hook engaging slots.
In an example of this embodiment, the sliding member includes a slide bar having a slide block connected thereto and at least one of said hook engaging slots, and flat bars as said extensions each connected to either of the slide bar or the slide block and having at least one of the hook engaging slots.
With this embodiment, the door may be locked to the casing frame at a plurality of locations, including those in the extensions of the sliding member beyond the handle section. Thus the door may be locked in a more stable manner.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the door unit includes a guide member for defining directions and limits of sliding of the sliding member.
With this embodiment, the directions and limits of the sliding motion of even the sliding member with the extensions may be controlled as desired.